Call to Action: Support a European Strategy for Brain Disorders

Call to Action: Support a European Strategy for Brain Disorders

The European Brain Council (EBC), a non-profit organisation of brain-related patient associations representing 165 million people in Europe, is calling on the European institutions to produce a European strategy for brain disorders which will effectively put support for healthy brains at the top of European and national agenda.

EBC is inviting all its partners and supporters to get behind this Call to Action, launched in Brussels, on 17 November 2015.

Cost of brain disorders: € 800 billion per year

Brain disorders pose one of the greatest societal challenges for Europe:

Brain disorders cost Europe around € 800 billion every year. This cost far exceeds that of cardiovascular diseases, cancer and diabetes combined. As the population in European countries ages, these numbers are increasing.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) concluded that brain disorders account for 35% of the burden of all diseases in Europe and are predicted to become the major medical need of the 21st century.

Health and societal challenges, high on the EU agenda

Tackling the most pressing societal challenges is the key objective of the Europe 2020 Strategy, designed to turn Europe into “a smart, sustainable and socially inclusive market economy”.

Also, the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union stipulates that a high level of human health protection shall be ensured in the definition and implementation of all European Union policies and activities (Art. 168)

In the light of these frameworks, EBC is calling on the European Commission to come forward with a European strategy to tackle brain disorders, and on European Union members states and associated countries to implement public health programmes addressing brain health.

Nurture and protect the brain

The human brain is the most complex living structure known in the universe, but is also the origin of many chronic and disabling diseases that have a huge impact on the lives of people affected by them, as well as the healthcare systems that support them, and European societies as a whole. This is why the brain needs to be nurtured, protected and cared for.

Our supporters

The EBC Call to Action launch is supported by the Polish Brain Council, the Polish Academy of Sciences and NeuroPozytwni.